▶ 科学60秒：中年危机究竟来自社会，还是我们的心理？| 1:16
Other Great Apes May Have Midlife Crises
动物管理员对500只黑猩猩和红毛猩猩的情绪评分显示，这种与人类亲缘关系最近的生物对生活的满意度也会随年龄的变化呈U型曲线。
[听力全文]（点击展开/收起）
Feeling listless? Unfulfilled? Like your life's half over and what have you got to show for it? Well, you're not alone. In fact, you might not even be human. Because a new study shows that even apes can experience a mid-life crisis. The work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Alexander Weiss et al., Evidence for a midlife crisis in great apes consistent with the U-shape in human well-being]
Social scientists, economists, and philosophers have long been aware that some people are subject to a sort of half-time slump: a period when their well-being dips to an all-time low. What's less clear is what causes this midlife ennui, which by many measures falls between a joyous childhood and contented retirement? Is it socioeconomic? Psychological? Metaphysical?
In this study, researchers first checked to see if the slump is uniquely human. They asked zookeepers to rate the relative happiness of some 500 chimps and orangutans, based on how often the apes seem to be in a good mood or how much pleasure they derive from socializing. Turns out our closest relatives also show a U-shaped curve of life satisfaction—cheery in youth and old age, and mopey in the middle.
So when you start lusting after that red convertible, you're not totally bananas. You're just going ape.
—Karen Hopkin
[重难点词汇、短语]（点击展开/收起）
listless: adj. 倦怠的；无精打采的；百无聊赖的
slump: n. 低潮期
ennui: n. 厌倦，无聊；倦怠
metaphysical: adj. 形而上学的
orangutan: n. 红毛猩猩
mopey: adj.闷闷不乐的，消沉的；无精打采的
lust: v. 对…有极强的欲望
convertible: n. 活动式顶棚汽车
[参考译文]（点击展开/收起）
无精打采？没有成就感？人生旅途才过半就已经生无可恋了？别担心，你不是一个人，呃，也有可能你不是一个“人”。因为一项发表在《美国科学院院刊》（PNAS）的研究表明，猿类也会经历中年危机。
社会科学家、经济学家和哲学家早就意识到，有些人会更容易陷入中年低迷状态：在这一时期，他们的主观幸福感会跌至一生最低点。多种测量方式都显示这一低谷期处于无忧无虑的童年期与心满意足的退休期之间，但这种现象的引发原因尚不明确：是社会经济造成的？还是出于心理因素？抑或是形而上的？
在这项研究中，研究人员首先检验了这种中年低迷是否为人类独有。他们请动物园管理员对大约500只黑猩猩和红毛猩猩的相对幸福感进行评分，评分依据包括猩猩表现出开心的频率，以及从社交中获得乐趣的程度。结果发现它们的生活满意度也呈现U型曲线——年轻和年老的猩猩振奋愉悦，中年猩猩则闷闷不乐。
所以当你开始对那辆红色敞篷车春心荡漾时 [译者注：在《红色敞篷车》（The Red Convertible）一书中，红色敞篷车象征着亨利和莱曼的年轻天真以及随之而来的自由]，你或许不是疯了，只是返祖了。
翻译 壮壮